Intelligence

Further Reading

ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:95110202.POL
DATE:11/02/95
TITLE:02-11-95 DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2
TEXT:
(Soviet misinformation) (300)
NEWS BRIEFING -- Deputy spokesman Captain Mike Doubleday answered
questions on the following topic:
DOD ASSESSING IMPACT OF DOUBLE AGENT SPY INFORMATION
Doubleday said the passing of tainted Soviet intelligence information
to key U.S. military decision makers during the Reagan and Bush
administrations is an issue which "causes us consternation and great
concern."
The Pentagon is currently reviewing how the information, which was
provided by Soviet "double agents" -- apparently recruited by
convicted Central Intelligence Agency official Aldrich Ames -- may
have affected the Defense Department's decision-making process over
the past four or five years, the deputy spokesman said. Part of the
assessment will involve "what we can do in the future to prevent this
kind of thing from occurring," he said, and how the Pentagon can
"refine its procedures."
In particular, he said analysts are looking at how reports from double
agents may have "impacted in some way upon...acquisition, policy
and...operations." The department first heard about the false
information in early 1995, when it learned of the problem from the
CIA, he said.
At the same time, Doubleday pointed out that U.S. officials do not
base decisions "solely" on a single report or piece of paper;
decisions are based on information from hundreds to thousands of
sources.
He said it is "premature" to discuss specific Pentagon programs which
could have been affected by the information passed on by the former
Soviet Union. He said it is also too soon to know if the Soviet
misinformation caused the United States to spend too much or too
little on weapons programs.
"The Pentagon's intelligence bureaucracy is certainly not at question,
here," Doubleday said in response to a question, "it has operated very
effectively for many, many years."
NNNN